More people than ever before are stricken with chronic diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that almost half of all adults in the United States are living with one or more chronic condition. The issue is increasingly serious when taking into account that there are millions of Americans living with conditions like diabetes, heart disease, COPD and others. As a result, patients, caregivers, insurance companies and family members are putting more trust in telehealth technologies in monitoring, treating, educating and empowering individuals who struggle with chronic illnesses.
It seems that, on practically a daily basis, more and more patients are making trips to hospital emergency rooms and urgent care centers for issues like diabetic insulin shock or respiratory distress. In recent years, the telehealth industry has worked to ensure that more patients have a better understanding of their conditions in the form of disease management through a number of systems. This is a good way of educating people so that they can make wiser choices in terms of improving their lifestyles and choices. In many cases, people with chronic illnesses suffer from those conditions due to lack of exercise, alcohol, tobacco or drug abuse and unhealthy diets. With better education, patients can use their newfound knowledge to their advantage. Patients are now increasingly able to better manage their chronic health conditions and prevent others from even developing.
With remote patient monitoring, healthcare professionals can interact with their patients in a better, more personalized way than through traditional office visits alone. When people have on-the-clock access to their doctors and other healthcare professionals online, they can gain even more insight into their health information and make positive steps in their lives.
Telehealth options, as well as corporate wellness programs and population health management, can help patients to enrich their own lives.
In addition to addressing patients who live with chronic illnesses to change their daily habits and improve their health overall, healthcare providers must also look into new, effective ways to assist in preventative care.
Better disease management can be achieved through telemonitoring or remote patient monitoring. It also allows healthcare professionals to connect with their patients in an even broader manner. When patients are able to get consultations with their doctors remotely, it provides incredible benefits that allow healthcare providers to deliver even better care that patients otherwise might not get. Additionally, it allows doctors to give patients a better understanding of disease management options they might not have known existed.
Many people suffer from comorbid conditions, which often exacerbates their less serious health condition. Treatments can often conflict with one another depending on a few factors. Obesity is a good example of a comorbid condition that often accompanies other medical problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Gastric bypass surgery is a typical treatment for obesity, but it can conflict with another condition, which is why telehealth is so important as it educates on how to avoid developing specific illnesses in the first place.
As patients age, there is a greater risk of being hospitalized and then readmitted to hospitals due to chronic health conditions. This is a sign of worsening health, but additionally, it can result in additional complications, medical accidents and a vast increase in health-related expenses. With better ways to manage chronic health conditions, specifically with ehealth programs and the benefits they offer — remote patient monitoring — patients can be safer and their conditions can be made more manageable as a whole. The better connection between patients and their healthcare providers, remotely, can work to improve the doctor-patient relationship as well.